Margot Adler (1946-2014)

I read Drawing Down the Moon many years ago, a brief phase during which I was apparently moderately interested in Wicca, the subject of the book. It was written by Margot Adler, who died recently. Of course, she was known for much more, primarily as a broadcaster at NPR for over 30 years.

As for the book, according to the NPR website:

Margot had a long-standing interest in the occult. “Margot was not only a brilliant reporter, she was also a Wiccan priestess and a leader in the Pagan community,” Low Smith notes. “That was deeply important to her, and she wrote a seminal book about that world: Drawing Down the Moon. She also wrote a memoir called Heretic’s Heart.”

More recently, her career was about reporting culture and the arts at NRP. Before that she covered all sorts of important news like the start of the AIDS epidemic and the aftermath of 9/11.

As for Drawing Down the Moon, I remember it as a very level-headed treatment of a subject many people are incapable of taking seriously. Too bad, because whatever the origins of modern day Wicca, and however many other traditions it may draw from, it always seemed to me to be constructed of some of the finer aspects of morality and spirituality. What more could you want?